Philip Aldrick is The Daily Telegraph's Economics Editor.

We're living in a twisted reality, where the best news is not good news at all

You know you’ve tripped through the looking glass when the best kind of news is not good news at all.

So it is with today's US jobs data. Non-farm payrolls rose by 175,000, a touch above forecasts, but unemployment edged up from 7.5pc to 7.6pc.

On the one hand, it suggested the economy is recovering. On the other, that it might take longer for unemployment to fall to the magic 6.5pc at which the US Federal Reserve will start unwinding QE.

One US trader described the combination as a “Goldilocks” recovery – one which isn’t so good the spigot of cheap money gets turned off.

The trader was right in one sense. Markets are living in make-believe if they think economic limbo is a desirable place to be. But it also hints at the repressed fear of what might happen when interest rates start to rise.

Recovery is not going to be easy. But better to be back in the real world where good news is good, than in this current twisted alternative.